Our love story began 6 years ago online – yes we met on a dating website! I remember receiving a message from “Tanbrah” and being so smitten by his profile. In his “perfect date” section he wrote that his perfect idea of a first date would be riding beach cruisers on the beach, so he could ride away if it got awkward- I thought it was hilarious and loved it! We ended up exchanging numbers and began texting day and night. After about a couple weeks, we planned to finally meet. Brooks and I lived about an hour away from each other, so we planned a date in a cute beach city between us. I got to the location first and I remember getting a call from him. This was actually the first time I had heard his voice! He asked if I could stand on the corner of the street so he knew where I parked. A truck with blacked out windows passed by and parked. Brooks got out of his truck and his first words were “right on!” – I’m still in love with his sense of humor until this day. We ended up getting a bite to eat at a really cute fondue place and started to walk the beach afterwards. At one point it started to rain, so we sat under a gazebo and talked and talked for hours. The rest is history!

On January 21st, 2017, Brooks had planned a dinner at a hotel with our friends, Jeff and Lacey. Brooks told me it was a fancy restaurant and was planning on wearing a suit, so of course I had to get dolled up. Brooks and I get to hotel and we head to the bar to wait for our friends. Right when Jeff and Lacey arrive, Jeff ordered shots for all of us. (Unbeknownst to me, Brooks had texted him to order shots because he was so nervous!). After some drinks, we start heading towards to restaurant. I had stopped in front of what I thought was the restaurant we had reservations at it and everyone started walking past it. I followed suit because I thought maybe it was another restaurant. We start heading outside and in the distance I could see a structure with many lights. At this point I have an idea of what going on and Brook’s takes my promise ring off and says “you won’t be needing this anymore”. I couldn’t contain my happiness. We get to the gazebo, decorated beautifully with umbrellas and cute twinkling “rain” lights. It replicated our first date in the rain!